I see a flaw in this theory. A real nuclear war will probably wipe out life on Earth. Who is going to use Bitcoin? Rats and cockroaches maybe?
Even if it's not an all out war it will probably disrupt communications and destroy internet lines. Without good internet coverage how are we going to trade? You're going to have to travel 100km to a place where there's Internet connection to trade with your neighbour?
Topic: According to Nick Szabo “Bitcoin Could Survive Nuclear War” - page 2. (Read 295 times)
Yeah, Bitcoin can survive, but it will be useless until people rebuild the Internet, which may or may not take a long time. In worst case, people won't value it much after electrical grid and the Internet was restored, because everyone will be thinking about the Nuclear War 2.0, and everyone will remember how Bitcoin instantly became useless.
But to me "nuclear war ready" is somewhere at the bottom of my priorities when it comes to money. Nuclear scenario for Bitcoin is just like quantum computers - if it suddenly happens, we'll have much bigger problems than worrying about our coins.
But to me "nuclear war ready" is somewhere at the bottom of my priorities when it comes to money. Nuclear scenario for Bitcoin is just like quantum computers - if it suddenly happens, we'll have much bigger problems than worrying about our coins.
Nuclear war? Man, if there's an actual nuclear war breaking out between countries who have a full armament, there's no way bitcoin is going to mean much afterward. Even if a country doesn't get hit directly, the resultant nuclear winter would make the world a barren wasteland, and the survivors would become savages...again.
Not to mention that there would likely be an airborne EMP nuke detonated first, if not solely. Our delicate power grids are extremely vulnerable and there's been a lot of talk about terrorists and nuclear world powers threatening to target them. If that were to happen, forget about computers and the internet and certainly about bitcoin. I'm hoping another nuke never explodes anywhere at any time. It took decades for the cold war fear to go away, and the feeling these days is almost like that.
Not to mention that there would likely be an airborne EMP nuke detonated first, if not solely. Our delicate power grids are extremely vulnerable and there's been a lot of talk about terrorists and nuclear world powers threatening to target them. If that were to happen, forget about computers and the internet and certainly about bitcoin. I'm hoping another nuke never explodes anywhere at any time. It took decades for the cold war fear to go away, and the feeling these days is almost like that.
There are plenty of apocalyptic scenarios where the electric grid fails, though. In those cases, Bitcoin is as good as dead. In a world without stable electrical grids, tangible (non-digital) assets become much more useful.
well, the irony there is that a previous over-dependence on electrical grids would in such scenarios incentivize decentralized/localized electricity (and computer networks). Once an economy recovered, Bitcoin or some reboot/reconceptualization of it would be easy & quick to establish.
The irony being, that the part where the economy falls to pieces might not happen if sufficient take-up of local electricity and meshnets happened before such a catastrophe. Inertia, ignorance/apathy and "prepper" stigma are currently holding that back. But the tech for both is pretty good. Then, the de-civilization part may not happen, and Bitcoin could continue.
All the transaction history of Bitcoin is all the way back to the genesis block. It’s more than 9000 copies located over 90 counties. Do you think it sounds much?
Bitcoin is incredibly redundant, so yes, it would likely survive a nuclear war.
There are plenty of apocalyptic scenarios where the electric grid fails, though. In those cases, Bitcoin is as good as dead. In a world without stable electrical grids, tangible (non-digital) assets become much more useful.
Not that technically knowledgeable about it for of getting it way back to genisis block, but the fact that even a single node/copy of blockchain can save it on nuclear war for being exterminate. It even has a copy on some satellite on outer space.
I think that it could physically survive, but not in the form that would matter. In the case of a Nuclear War, there's a good chance of the Internet going down, and with it all of the major communications and the vast majority of transactions. Bitcoins on cold wallets could survive, and if some people use satellites to connect with each other, perhaps a very weak network would still be out there. But most importantly, Bitcoin would die in terms of its value. In the case of a Nuclear War, the top priority would be to survive, and some numbers and symbols certainly would not help with that task.
All the transaction history of Bitcoin is all the way back to the genesis block. It’s more than 9000 copies located over 90 counties. Do you think it sounds much?
Jump to: